Sweden to assess iGaming liberalisation effects

Sweden will liberalise the online gaming market next January 1st. (Credits: ottawalife.com)

The Swedish government is set to analyse how the online gambling liberalisation will impact existing gambling monopolies in the country.

Sweden.- The new gambling law that was approved by Swedish lawmakers last week is set to open the online market to international operators. However, the government has decided to study how the market’s liberalisation will impact on existing local betting monopolies Svenska Spel and ATG.

The Swedish authorities will look into how the end of said monopolies as of January 1st, 2019 will change sports and racing funding in the country. The main concern surrounds the 87 per cent of racing funding, which comes from ATG, so the government is looking to find a new funding mechanism.

However, the review’s results won’t be released until late 2020, way after the new online gambling scheme gets rolled out. The racing segment has therefore voiced its fear of suffering while the authorities assess the legislation change’s impact.

Still, ATG’s new chairman, Bo Netz, said that the company has as a chief priority to “prepare and make ATG competitive for the new gaming market,” beyond any consequence of the market’s liberalisation.